Athenian
Ath. Let the strange fact be granted, we say, that our hymns are now made into nomes (laws),A play on the double sense of νόμος,—law and chant or tune: cp. 700 B, 722 D, 734 E. just as the men of old, it would seem, gave this name to harp-tunes,— so that they, too, perhaps, would not wholly disagree with our present suggestion, but one of them may have divined it vaguely, as in a dream by night or a waking vision: anyhow, let this be the decree on the matter:—In violation of public tunes and sacred songs and the whole choristry of the young, just as in violation of any other nome (law), no person shall utter a note or move a limb in the dance. He that obeys shall be free of all penalty; but he that disobeys shall (as we said just now) be punished by the Law-wardens, the priestesses and the priests. Shall we now lay down these enactments in our statement?